Tinicum Arts Festival Colors A Barn * Oils, Watercolors, Prints Fill The Display, But The Crowd Is Small During Saturday Rain.

July 15, 1996|by DIANE MARCZELY, The Morning Call

Outside the red barn in Tinicum Park, the color gray dominated as the weather system that once was Hurricane Bertha darkened the skies and rained upon the region Saturday.

Inside the barn, however, colors of every shade and hue covered framed canvases, brightening the barn's brown wooden walls and the spirits of those who braved the elements to attend the 48th annual Tinicum Arts Festival.

An oil painting of the nearby Stover House by W.S. Rivins was done in striking bright reds, blues and greens. A Harriet Ermentrout watercolor titled "Tinicum Fair" showed a red barn with tents around it in more subdued tones. Another watercolor called "Tinicum Oak" -- the artist is Edward Baumlin -- showed a big old oak tree in front of a wood frame farmhouse.

Another canvas depicted a brown dirt road lined with snowbanks and leafless, brown trees leading to a red barn. It was done by Wally Young of Tinicum Township, co-chairman of the art show.

"I took a trip for a month to South America to get away from the snow," he said. "When I came back, this was what I found the next morning."

Young said he likes to paint his landscapes outdoors, but it was a little cold to do this one that way.

"My feet get cold," he said.

Not every canvas depicted scenes from the place where the festival was held. There were still lifes, seascapes, landscapes, portraits and sculptures. Those works on the main floor were in a competition and were offered for sale for prices that ranged from more than $100 to more than $1,000. Despite low attendance Saturday, seven works sold before noon.

Those who could not afford such prices, however, also could bring home something for their walls. In the barn basement, unframed oil paintings, watercolors, photographs and prints were offered for sale at prices ranging from $10 to $100.

The display and sale of the art went on as scheduled in the weatherproof barn but live music and crafters' displays, planned for outside, were canceled Saturday. The weather kept away most of the visitors that day, too.

Rebecca Wachtel, who organized the event, acknowledged her disappointment.

"What am I going to do?" she said rhetorically. "If I forgot something, I would feel guilty."

The event usually draws 4,000 people over two days to the River Road park, Wachtel said. Each visitor pays $4 to get in, although Saturday the group solicited donations rather than charge admission.

The arts festival is the largest fund-raiser for the Tinicum Civic Association.

"The civic association historically has always donated to the local fire company, ambulance squad, senior citizens group, Meals on Wheels, historic sites," said Wachtel, the group's president. "What (the low festival turnout) will mean is that it's hindered how much we can give out."

During a typical year the association distributes about $15,000. The rest of the money it raises is used for the upkeep of Stover Mill, an historic structure the association owns in the township.